TN:The Enophillies do Beaucastel Vertically

The Enophillies decided to visit that venerable Southern Rhone estate Chateau Beaucastel. It was held at the Creole Café in Sewell, NJ. (A great match for Chateauneuf du Pape is the Cajun/Creole food, by the way.) Here are my notes, such as they are:

The White Flight.

1-2000 Beaucastel blanc. Golden. Nose of apple slices left out for a few hours. There was also a hint of oxidation. I guess it’s in that funky phase they talk about. 86

2-2004 Beaucastel blanc. Pale yellow. A younger Rhone, apply. A touch of heat on the end. Good. 89

3-1998 Chapoutier Chante Alouette. Pale yellow. Seemingly coming off much dryer than the first two, but held its own well. Even gaining in the glass, this was decanted an hour prior-this helped. A dry white that I kept coming back to. 90

4-2000 Beaucastel V.V. Pale gold. Rich full nose, all minerals. Mouth was rich and full like a higher end Chardonnay. Very nice, but definitely different than the young VVs I’ve had. 92

On to the Reds…

5-1986 Beaucastel. Dusty, old nose. I didn’t have much hope for this wine, from a lesser vintage for Beaucastel. And the nose lived up to this expectation. But there was a little life in the taste, mouth had that herbal quality I find in older Chateauneufs. Nose 74; Mouth 88 Total 81

6-1994 Beaucastel. Medium garnet. Nice nose, kinda tweener, heading towards the older CdP taste/Nose. Drinking very well and an early favorite. 92

7-1995 Vieux Telegraphe. Garnet. A raspberry nose-first showing of that smell. Mouthfeel full, rich, lovely. Clearly more Grenache here, and some would say all the better for it. 93

8-1996 Beaucastel. Garnet. Medium weight in nose and mouth. Good, but just so. 87.

9-1997 Beaucastel. Garnet. Initially in the glass I got a whiff of caramel, then just the slightest whiff that hinted TCA, but it wasn’t so. Blew off and continued to open in the glass over the evening. My vote for wine that changed the most in the glass. Decant it for an hour before you serve it. 90

10-1998 Beaucastel. Garnet. Closed nose that only hinted at the potential delights it may show in the future. Mouth also was closed and didn’t seem to open much at all throughout the night. 87. This is to me the most variable vintage of Beaucastel since the 89, and this didn’t convince me otherwise.

At this point we jumped ahead momentarily to recent vintages.

11-2001 Beaucastel. Garnet. Rich, full, exuberant nose that flew out of the glass. Great. Young, but oh so good now. A favorite. 94

12-Mystery wine 1-(2002 Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois) I was shocked by this wine. The last time I had this-about 1 year ago) it was at best a Cotes du Rhone. Today it is a CdP and held its own in this flight. No strong evidence of dilution. Good showing that surprised everyone. 88

13-2004 Beaucastel. Deep garnet. Very young barrel sample-like nose. Herbs and fruits, hint of raspberry. Young but mouth filling taste. 93

We now returned to the regularly scheduled Vintages.

14-1999 Beaucastel. Paler garnet. Medium weight and medium in the mouth. Good, but I was kinda disappointed. 89

15-1999 Beaucastel Hommage a Jacques Perrin. Deep garnet. Brooding nose and mouth that took a long time to slowly open up. I think this gave just a hint of the joys to come, but I keep coming back to this because each time there was something else to find. 95+

16-2000 Beaucastel. Garnet. Coffee nose intermixed with herbs. Youngish in the mouth. Very good now and the potential is great. 93+

17-Mystery wine 2 (2000 Brunel Les Cailloux Cuvee Centenaire) Nose shoulda given some big hints, Floral, raspberries. This was a different bird. Mouth covered every inch with berries, herbs. Absolutely fabulous. 97


Some thoughts.
1-For the standard level Beaucastel, 2001 outshined the rest.

2-No Brett was found at all, no corked bottles either!

3-For a more traditional CdP, this is top tier. This was a great tasting.

12-Mystery wine 1-(2002 Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de la Reine des Bois) I was shocked by this wine. The last time I had this-about 1 year ago) it was at best a Cotes du Rhone. Today it is a CdP and held its own in this flight. No strong evidence of dilution. Good showing that surprised everyone. 88

It's pretty sad that this wine just holds its own against wines that cost half as much (or less) than it does!

Joe, it was the year of the flood. So, to me, anything good out of 2002 CdP is a miracle.

That's true!

The only bottle I bought was the Rayas, hoping that, for the money, it'll hold on to a little Rayas-iness.

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for posting the notes Harry. I was also blown away by the Centenaire and found the Hommage to be giving just a glimmer of great things to come.

The Vieux Telegraphe was the wine I kept going back to. Of course the bottle was right in front of me, so that wasn't a problem. It had such a great combination of primary and secondary characteristics - really the most complete of the "normal" cuvees.

I was also impressed with the 2002 Mordoree, and since you got it at a (very) good price I can say it was well worth it.

There were also some non-Rhone white wines served to appease my wife, and all of them were quite good:

2001 J. J. Christoffel Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese
Still full of youthful fruit on the palate, but also not remotely ready. There was no nose to speak of, and the second night (we took the bottle home with us) it showed some creaminess, but still just held out the closed for business sign. Revisit in 2-4 years.

2004 Boxler Estate Gewurztraminer
No "L" code on the bottle for those interested in such things. Tons of typical Gewurz pineapple, lychee and rose. Off-dry and a great match for the Creole cuisine. Impossible to own too much of this.

2006 J. J. Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese
Gassy (what else is new) and leesy (what else is new), but underneath all that great balance, citrus fruit and minerals and fine cut, the likes of which we haven't seen in many years in Germany. Really delicious, but pales in comparison to...

2006 J. J. Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese
Gassy (what else is new) and leesy (what else is new), but underneath all that waves of lively richness, creaminess, a riot of citrus fruit and lurking far below a solid mineral base. This could be a legend.